This is set from the beginning of Dean and Harry's sixth year and to the night Draco lets the DE's into Hogwarts. It was a request from goodlife23 over at the HarryandGinny reddit page. Check it out! Also FYI The administrators have allowed me to change my name here from HPmum14 to Pottermum, so I can be consistent on all sites I post on. Many thanks to them and the great job they do, apologies if there is any confusion,

Chapter

She was never meant to be his. Maybe deep down, he knew that. He'd told himself he was like another brother to her, and that's why she never wrote to him over the summer holidays. Potter always stayed at her house for the last part of the break, he knew that, and he and Ginny had only just started something up.

They'd had some fun weeks at the start of term; she was everything he could dream of in a girlfriend. Funny, nice, didn't mind if Seamus hung around them sometimes. She wasn't bothered by their ribald sense of humour, in fact, she gave as good as she got, without crossing the line to vulgarity. He saw her stick up for her friend Luna, when her own housemates teased her and hid her belongings, and he saw her stop Theo Nott from bullying a second year Hufflepuff. She was pretty, smelled amazing and was a bloody great kisser.

She was also quite independent; he figured it probably came from being the youngest. But he had always been taught by his mother to open a door for a lady, to stand aside for her to enter first, to carry her heavy bags. So when Ginny began to resent his actions, he didn't know which way to turn.

He'd thought everything was going fine, even though he hadn't made the Gryffindor Quidditch team with her. That had certainly cut into their alone time but he couldn't deny she was an amazing flyer, probably the best on the team. Later he'd actually been asked to play by Harry himself, when Katie Bell had been in Hogsmeade. Ginny had been happy for him, and life couldn't be any better. He should have known it couldnt last.

If he had to really pinpoint a moment he thought it all started going wrong, it was when Harry and Ron caught him and Ginny snogging on the second floor, along the short cut back to Gryffindor Tower. Ron had been the one to yell, but as he left, leaving Ginny to handle her brother, he hadn't missed a strange look on Harry's face. But he'd thought nothing much of it at the time, but looking back, he was pretty sure that was the beginning of the end.

He liked Harry, he really did. Poor guy, he'd been through a lot, if rumours and overhearing him and Ron talking in class or the common room, was anything to go on. Harry had always been nice to him, and the five of them — Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville, had had some great late night chats. You don't share a dorm with a guy for six years and not learn a thing or two about them. Dean, Seamus and Neville talked briefly amongst themselves about Harry and his nightmares, but when asking Ron about them, he advised them to leave Harry be. As Harry's best friend, they agreed Ron would know what's best for him, so they said nothing to Harry, yet all kept an eye on him over the years.

So that was why he started noticing Harry seemed preoccupied at Quidditch training, sometimes even getting hit by Bludgers he never saw coming. When he mentioned it to Ginny, she put it down to Harry having a lot on his mind. But when he looked, really looked , at what had Harry so distracted, he began to realise — it was Ginny.

His girlfriend.

He'd said nothing to either of them, just kept a close eye on them both. He happily accepted Ginny's invitation to join her at Slughorn's Christmas party and, like the rest of the school, was surprised when Harry invited Luna Lovegood. Strange girl, but she was Ginny's friend. Once again, he caught Harry's eyes on Ginny, who looked postively smashing that night, until Draco Malfoy interrupted the night and drew Harry's atttention away from her. When he brought it up with Ginny, she became angry on Harry's behalf, and they parted for Christmas not on the best of terms. He hoped some time apart would make things better, till he remembered that Harry was going to be celebrating the Yule season with the Weasleys too.

Things didn't improve when she returned. They both got bogged down with loads of homework; she was preparing for her OWL's and the sixth years had just started Apparition lessons. The only real time they had together was Quidditch training and meal times, which afforded them no alone time at all, and if there was one thing he was missing, it was snogging her.

They'd finally arranged a day together, planning to spend the day at Hogsmeade, but then it was cancelled and Ron ate some bloody chocolates laced with a love potion that somehow put him in the infirmary for days. (he still thought there was more to the story, but Ginny, Harry and Hermione weren't talking) He understood Ginny wanting to be there for her brother, so he said nothing, and spent the day with Seamus.

With Ron indisposed, Cormac MacLaggen joined the team. He wasn't a good fit, but he was substitue Keeper. Dean found him too cocky and arrogant, especially when he started giving everyone else unasked for criticisms of their abilities.

Bloody McLaggen had ruined what could have been a great match when he had hit their team's own Seeker, Harry, with Jimmy Peake's bat, sending Harry flailing through the air to the ground. Once he'd been carted off to the Infirmary, the match had resumed with their re-shuffled team, but they'd ended up losing badly.

The team spent the rest of the day plotting revenge against McLaggen, who knew enough to make himself scarce. Later, Seamus had drifted over, describing how it looked from a spectator's point of view. The two of them had a chuckle, which Ginny overheard, and snapped at them, still clearly upset. Whether it was the loss, or Harry's injury, Dean didn't know, and didn't want to ask, sure he wouldn't like the answer.

Things definitely cooled between them after that. She used the excuse of homework and revison, so he tried to do the 'good boyfriend'thing, and meet her in the library, check up on her, that sort of thing. But she resented him 'suffocating' her — her words, not his — and would send him away. Things were getting tenser and tenser until one night, as he and Ginny entered the portrait hole, he felt Ginny tense as she turned to him and accused him of pushing her through.

Of course he'd protested his innocence, plus he was getting a little tired of being told off for simply being a gentleman, but as this wasn't the first time she'd told him she didn't like it when he did it, she simply didn't believe him.

And then they were over...and everything went to hell from there.

With Ron recovered and Katie Bell returned, he and Cormac were off the team. He heard Quidditch practices were going so great with all the main players back, and that Ginny was the life and soul of the team. He watched from the shadows as she, Harry and Ron were always the last ones to leave, walking, laughing companionably back up to the castle, with Harry shooting side-long looks in her direction. If she was upset by their break up, she sure wasn't showing it.

He waited for the inevitable. Harry had been distracted in class, often being pulled up by the professors, and Dean was sure it wasn't due to a 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be- Named' reason.

And then suddenly, life flipped over once again. Harry was given detention and unable to play in the last Quidditch match of the year. Something to do with Malfoy and an incident in the girl's bathroom on the sixth floor.

Ron, Ginny and Hermione were tight lipped, and Harry himself was shame faced as he told the team that Ginny would play Seeker and he, Dean, would return to play Chaser. If Gryffindor won, they would win the House Cup.

He was determined to do well. Maybe it would be the way to win back Ginny's heart.

The match was amazing; the Chasers flew brilliantly and Ron was playing possibly his best match ever. And when Ginny caught the Snitch, Gryffindor had won 450-140; the House Cup was theirs.

The celebrations should have lasted all night, hell, they probably did. But all he remembered was when Harry finally arrived in the common room and Ginny raced across the room to him, the most intense look on her face that he had ever seen.

And Harry had kissed her.

He didn't recall breaking the glass in his hand, in fact, everything from that moment on was a bit of a blur. Seamus had led him away, Hermione had healed the cut on his hand while Neville hovered like a mother hen. The party raged on around him, although now the talk wasn't on the match, but rather the kiss between Harry and Ginny.

If only he could forget it.

But he saw it in his mind like a slow motion replay of a cheesy romance movie. 'And the hero gets the girl' he thought cynically, because that's always the way these things go.

He tried to stay far away from them but it was like a golden orbit was around them, drawing everyone's attention. They were the talk of every house, of the portraits, of the ghosts and even the professors. Yet they were both oblivious to it, too caught up in the other to be aware they were all people were talking about these days.

Suddenly Harry's moans at night became something else entirely, in his mind, anyway. His distractions in class, his doodling her initials on parchment, and rushing out of class as soon as the bell went just so he could catch her on her way to her next lesson were almost amusing, if it wasn't a punch in the gut to him.

When Harry smiled a knowing smile out of nowhere, when he was with Ron and Hermione but his mind was elsewhere, only he, Dean, knew his mind must be on Ginny.

As the days turned to weeks, their romance showed no signs of waning, if anything, one might wonder how they hadn't guessed before that these two would make the perfect pair. Harry, in love, was transformed, no longer surly, no longer looking like he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Ginny, in love and loved in return, had never looked more beautiful. She glided around the school, happy and confident. But her eyes lit up in a special way when Harry approached her, taking her hand, taking her away from him and everyone else. He really didn't blame Harry for wanting time alone with her.

He'd stumbled across them twice, not that they'd seen him; too caught up in the other. He'd been waiting for Seamus outside; the mid-May weather called many students out of the castle that day. He'd seen movement near the lake and so he headed there.

It was a picture postcard moment that made him wish he had his drawing book with him. It was already filled with sketches and drawings of Ginny that he just couldn't thrown away — not yet, his heart cried, overruling his mind who insisted they should be thrown out. They were some of his best work.

The sun shone down on the lake, making it almost glisten. The sun also shone down on the two people sitting near the lake, nestled together, her in between his legs. Remnants of a picnic surrounded them. Golden red hair, messy black hair, it soon became hard to tell where one began and the other ended. They were two, yet one.

They looked happy and so unbelievable right together, that he had to turn away, lest the sun made the lone tear on his cheeks glisten, too.

The other time was in their common room. Too restless to sleep, he'd headed downstairs, only to find the two of them curled up together in front of the fireplace, asleep.

He ventured as close as he could get without alerting them. He'd never seen Harry look so at peace. Their fingers were interlocked, and their heads turned towards the other. There was enough distance between them that even Ron couldn't suggest anything improper, but still there was an intimacy between them that had never been between him and Ginny.

He felt a sudden rage come over him, and he wanted to pick up something and thrown it against the wall, to yell and wake them both and demand to know — Why him? Why not me? He wanted to see their guilt ridden looks as he demanded to know what did Harry Potter have that he didn't?

But he didn't. He'd returned silently upstairs, and staired at his bed hangings the rest of the night.

He couldn't not avoid Harry, they shared classes, meals and a dorm, but he made a huge effort to not look in his direction, to keep his distance, to avoid anywhere they might be. He didn't think they were trying to rub their happiness in his face; he just didn't think they were thinking of anything or anyone else.

He tried to be happy for them, he really did, but even after all these weeks, it was still too soon. She had been his first real love. You don't get over a girl like Ginny so easily. He was man enough to say to himself that Harry was a lucky bloke.

He sat in the corner of the common room this night, watching her. Harry had been summoned to Dumbledore's office earlier and, as he watched, she, Ron and Hermione talked anxiously, as they passed a small vial between them. Funny, it looked like the Felix Felicis potion that Harry had won from Slughorn earlier in the term.

The three left the common room, no doubt to find Harry. He tried not to wonder, to worry for Ginny, being dragged into whatever Harry was up to with the headmaster.

She was strong, she was fierce. She would give Harry everything, in a way she never could, or would, for him.

He guessed he had been kidding himself all along. It was time to face reality.